Grinding-mill.



G H. BLANKMANN.

GRINDING MILL.

I APPLICATION FILED AUG-30, I916.

1,231A7& Patented June 26, 1917..

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Gew gefiBZmkmam a 87 f TI/Twwa G. H. BLANKMANN.

GRINDING MILL.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-30. 191s.

Patented. June 26, 1917.

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G. H. BLANKIVIANN.

GRINDING MILL.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 30. 1916. 1 23mm Patented June 26,1917.

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G. H. BLANKIVIANN..

GRINDING MILL,

APPLICATION FILED AUG-30.1916.

LQSJLA'M, Patented June 26,1917.

5 SHEETSSHEET 5- VZWQSQW I v eorgefffikzizirmam 4 121' I Z A TTOIM 'ER v GEORGE H. BLANKMANN, OF ST LOUIS, MISSOURI.

GRINDING-MILL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June as, rare.

Application filed August 30, 1916. Serial 1i! 0. 117,670.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE H. BLANK- MANN, a citizen of the United States, re-

siding at St. Louis, State of Missouri, have that class of pulverizers which are particularly adapted for the grinding of grain, coffee, spices, and like substances where the grinding of'the material is attended with the production of more or less waste in the form of chafl or light particles readily separated from the finished product with the aid of air currents traversing the grinding chamber of the mill, and which, if desired may be returned to the mill by these same air currents for purposes of regrinding or further treatment. tion is to construct a mill of the character referred to which will have a maximum capacity for a given size mill; to reduce the power required per ton of output; to provide a structure according ready access to the several operating-parts of the mill for pur poses of adjustment; to provide facilities for the renewal of worn out parts; to provide means forthe pulverizing of materials of different degrees of hardness and friability;

l to provide'means for regulating the intensity of the air currents operating on the pulverized material; to provide means for regulating the size of the pulverized particles; to provide a structure Whose moving parts shall operate with a minimum amount of friction thereby reducing the power necessary fordriving the same; to provide a structure whose principle of. operation may be applied to the grinding of material and.

substances other than those above specifically enumerated; and further to provide .further and other features of construction the advantages of which will be fully appar- 'ent from a detailed description of the inventionin connection with the accompanying drawings in which- A Figure 1 represents a side elevation of the mill, certain parts being in section; Fig. 2

The object of the invenis a front elevation thereof; Fig. 3 is vertical longitudinal section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4: is a vertical cross-section on the line li of Fig. 8; Fig. 5 is a horizontal section on the line 55 of Fig. 3; Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional detail on the line 6-6 of Fig. 4; Fig. 7 is a horizontal sectional detail on the line 77 of Fig. 1; Fig. 8 is a vertical sectional detail on the line 8-8 of Fig. 7 Fig. 9 is an end view of one-half of the rotor member with parts removed or broken away to expose successive portions entering into its construction; Fig. 10 is a half side elevation of the rotor and half longitudinal section on the line 10-10 of Fig. 9; Fig. 11 is a longitudinal sectional detail of the fan portion only, of the rotor onthe line 1111 of Fig. 9, the terminal rotatable ring being removed; Fig. 12 is a detached plan view of one of the grinding bars; Fig. 13 is a crossa frame or mill housing provided with the side bearing-supports or brackets 2, 3, respectively, the free ends of said brackets respectively carrying the roller bearings 4, 4:, which support the transversely disposed rotor shaft S, the ends of the shaft being reduced as at S, S, said reduced ends carrying the crown driving pulley P and the flywheel W, respectively. Keyed, or otherwise secured to the shaft S is the hub 5 of the fan member of the rotor, said fan being provided with a series of radial blades 6 diverging longitudinally in opposite directions from a'central annular peripheral collar or rib 7 of the hub, and reinforced by a central web 8 leading from said collar, the

outer ends of the blades terminatingin the alinement, the terminal a of the slot a is ra-' dially in alinement with the outer end of the slot at of the next pair as fully shown in Fig. 9. Disposed between the blades 6 of the rotor and traversing the slots 0., a, of the members 9, 10, thereof, are cylindrical rods 11 to which are loosely hinged thebeaters or cutters 12 Wedge shaped in cross section and flaring outwardly, the said members 12 be-- ing preferablyprovided with lugs or ears 6 through which the rods 11 loosely pass. By loosening the terminal nuts n on therods 11, the rings 10 are left free to be turned or rotated on their seats 8. Iffor example we rotate the rings 10 in the direction shown bythe curved arrow in Fig. 9,that is, to-

ward the left, the effect of the slots a would be to constrain the series of rods 11 to move radially outward in the slots at of the rings 9, thereby moving outwardly the entire series of'beaters or cutters 12 or to the dotted positions shown in said figure. The innermost or fully retracted position of the beaters or cutters is when the hinge-rods 11 thereof are at the bottoms of the cooperating slots a, a, in which position they are shown in Fig. 9. Once the members 12 are adjusted radially to any predetermined position, the nuts n are driven home and the parts tightened as well understood by the.

skilled mechanic.

' The heaters 12 may be considered as the radially adjustable parts of the rotor memher, the fan portion or the part comprising the blades 6'and heads 9 being the fixed or body member, and the rings 10,- 10, being the rotatably adjustable members, but col lec'tively all constituting the rotor, or rotary member of the grinding portion-of the mill. Cooperating with the beaters 12 are the grinding or breaking bars 13 substantially of the cross-section shown in Figs. 3,.

13, 14, two opposite faces being provided with longitudinal grinding ribs hhaving curved faces 6 intersected-by the plane undercut faces 15', the intersections forming cutting edges as shown (Figs. 13, 14). The curved faces of. the opposing ribs are disposed in reverse directions whereby by turning the bar end for end either the curved surfaces or the sharp cutting edges of the ribs may beuresented to the beaters 12 as clearly obvious from Figs. 13, 14. The bars 13 terminate in reduced ends or trunnions 14 which are received by the spiral grooves 20 secured to the inner side walls of the casmethod described may be considered as the loosely as they are in the grooves (1 thereof 12 will 'be caused to approach or recede from 'or ways (1 of the scroll gear-rings 15 disloosely on the corresponding cylindricah portion of the head 17 which last mentioned head has cast as an integral part thereof the return chute 18 and hopper 19 as shown in Fig. 4. Each ring 15 is maintained against lateral displacement on its cylindrical or annular bearing by a segmental angle ring I ing 1, and by corresponding diametrically disposed segmental angle rings. '21 secured 'to the side arcuate hinge members 22. of a swinging lid 23 hinged to, a rod 24h between the lugs 25 formed on the front wall of the casing orhousing 1. The purpose of the lid 23 is to afford access to the interior of the casing when necessary. Q

. Simultaneous rotation may be imparted to the scrollrings 15 by means of a shaft 26 provided with pinions 27 meshing with the teeth of the respective scroll rings. To the shaft 26 rotation may be imparted in one of two ways, to wit: (1) Mounted loosely in a bearing 28 cast with the casing wall is an 5 eccentric 29 terminating in an enlarged head 30 resting on the bearing, said head being provided with an operating handle 31. The eccentric is traversed loosely by a spindle 32 terminating at the bottom in a worm, 33 which meshes with a worm wheel or pinion V 34 at the adjacent end of the shaft 26, the

- upper-end of the spindle terminating in a hand-wheel 35. It will be seen from the I slow method, but to rotate the scroll rings rapidly I make the following provision, to

may be given a quick turn independent of the hand wheel 35. With .the rotation of the scroll rings 15, the grinding bars 13 mounted the common axis of rotation of the rings accord-ing to the direction of rotation imparted to the rings. In other words the spiral grooves (i will screw? or drive the bars'to- V ward the axis with a rotation of the rings in one direction, and unscrew or drive rthe bars away from the axis with a rotation in the opposite direction. toward the axis, the bars will approach the outer terminals of the beaters 12; and in their movement from the axis, they will move away from the heaters. Since the heaters are themselves radially adjustable, it follows that the distance between the members 12 and 13 may be carefully regulated according to the character of finished product desired, or the fineness to which the material shall be ground. In Fig. 15 if we assume the ring 15'to be sufficiently rotated in the direction indicated bythe curved arrow, the center line as of the bars 13 will assume the position x the bars having traveled toward the axis of the ring. Of course, during the rotation of the scroll rings, provision must be made to prevent the grmding bars from being carried .around with the rings, that is to say, the bars must be held against circular or rotary displacement, their travel being confined, to radial paths to and from the common axis of the rings or axis of the rotor. This rotary displacement is prevented in one direction by the front wall of the feed chute 37 against which the lid 23 closes, tom of which (serving-as an abutment) the upper terminal grinding bar bears, and in p the opposite direction rotary displacement is prevented by the lower terminal grinding bar bearing against the adjacent strip 38 forming the lower transverse" member of the frame carrying the curved or concaved apron or deflector 39, the sides of the frame being in the form of arcuate or bowed angle members 40 as shown (Figs. 3, 5). The terminals of the strip 38 are-provided with studs, 41 which operate in the grooves d of the scroll rings, the same as do the trunnions 14 of the grinding bars 13. The vertical legs of the angle members 40 are provided with elongated slots u traversed by screw studs 42 carrying nuts n by which the apron can be adjusted relatively to the grinding bars confined between the scroll rings, the slots 10, and the studs 41 which traverse the grooves d permitting the apron to accommodate itself to any rotations imparted to the scroll rings for purposes of adjusting the grinding bars as res'ently to be more clearly apparent. Should it be desired to remove the grinding bars from the scroll rings for purposes-of turning them end for end, orto rotate them about their axes to present the unused grinding faces thereof to the beaters, the apron 39 islifted far enough out of the way to permit access to and manipulation of the bars by sliding the slotted members 40, say to the dotted-position indicated in Fig, 3, theslots a being of sufiicient length to allow fprthe necessary movement In their movement and against the bot-,

Widest at the discharge end of the chute 37 and gradually taper to an edge at a point near the last of the series of grinding bars, the progressively diminishing space causing the material to be progressively ground or reduced as clearly obvious from the drawings (Fig.

The material is charged into the hopper 43, the latter being provided with an inclined platform 44 to which is hinged a gravity valve or gate 45 which allows the material to gravitate into the chute 37, the I quantity being regulated by a slide or gate valve 46 operating through a slot in the front wall of the chute, said valve being connected to a U-shaped frame 47 whose terminal arms operate in bearings 48. The valve 45 as arranged prevents the escape of dust from the machine The pulverized material is discharged from the rotor-casing through an uptake 49 whence it passes into the conical bottom of the separating or expansion chamber 50, whence the very fine product or chaff passes through the conical top of said chamber into an elbow 51 from which it is discharged through the square terminal 51 -thereof, tangentially along the wall of the cyclone collector 52, the latter being pro vided with a discharge spout 53 controlled by a weighted gravity valve 54 as shown,

the valve being balanced by a weight 55 on the arm 56 leading from the hinge axis of the valve.

Leading from the bottom of the separating chamber 50 is the inclined tailings spout 57 the heavier material being discharged therefrom to any point of further treatment bv the slide or gate valve 58 at the lower end of the spout, or, if desired, such material may be returned to the mill for further grinding through the branch conduit or spout 59 the intake end of which is controlled by the hinged damper or valve 60 which when closing the spout 57 rests against a ledge or strip 61 in which position of the valve, the material is returned to the mill through the return spout '59, the material being discharged into the chute 37 beneath the platform 44. The pulverized material in traversing the uptake 49 and chamber 50 flows through the funnel 62, between a deflecting cone 63 and a double truncated cone deflecting hood 64 ,ar011nd an auxiliary deflecting cone 65, the lighter particles (always accompanied by air) flowing through the elbow 51 from the 7 ferred to.

I the collector walls.

Leading from the top of the collector 52 is a surplus air-return pipe 66 the base of which discharges into the hopper 19 previously referred to. The intake end of the pipe 66 leads from the reduced terminal 67- of the bell-shaped hood or air regulator or valve 68 operating in conjunction with the deflecting cone 69 secured by straps 70 to The depending cylindrical portion of the member 68 is provided with slots to which the straps may enter with any material lowering of the said regulator member. This member is raised or lowered according to circumstances presently to be explained by means of the three (or more) screw-threaded hanger rods 71 leading from the regulator through the roof of the collector 52, the upperscrewthreaded portions of the rods above said roof being provided with sprocket nuts or wheels 72, one of which has formed therewith a hand wheel 73, the series of sprocket nuts or wheels'being connected by a sprocket chain 74. It follows therefore that when rotation is imparted to' the hand wheel 73 in proper direction, the rods and hence the regulator .member will be raised or lowered as the case may be, thereby either enlarging or constricting the annular air passage 12 between.

the members 68 and 69. The discharge end of the pipe 66 above the hopper 19 is provided with a vent 75 controlled at the intake end by a slideor gatevalve 7 6 for regulating the return draft and the influx of atmospheric accessions\to said draft. A second regulating valve or damper 77 may be positioned in the pipe 66 above the vent 75.

Regulating the initial air influx into the rotor casing is a bell or cone valve 7 8 termi nating in a grooved hub or neck feathered to the shaft S, the groove being loosely embraced by a yoke or ring 79 to which are pivotally secured the inner ends of the diametrically disposed links 80, the outer ends of the links being pivotally secured to the sides of the medial loop 81 of an operating lever 82 whose lower forked end is piyoted about a fulcrum rod '83 mounted rigidly between the brackets 3, 3, (Fig. 6) said lever having pivoted thereto above the shaft S, a locking pawl or lever 84 wh'oseshort arm is controlled by a flexed spring 85, the long arm terminating in two. or more teeth meshingwith the teeth of a locking disk 86 secured. to the rod 83 between the fork members of the operating lever 82. The locking ing the position of the valve 78 relatively to the intake opening 0 of the'terminal rotor ring 9. By tripping the pawl 84 to the position indicated by the outer dotted line in Fig. 4, that is to say to a position to disengage the toothed end from the disk 86, the lever 82 will be left free to swing about the axis of the rod 83, and hence move the valve 78 in or out according to the size of opening desired through the rotor head or ring 9, the opening Oin the casing head 16 not being affected. The controlling. means for the valve "('8 is well understood in the art and is shown here more Or less conventionally, the shifting of the valve along the shaft S while the latter is rotating being akin to the action of well known clutch mechanisms with which the skilled mechanic is familiar. The casing 1 is provided where convenient with hand-hole covers 87, 88, 89, as shown. Obviously, I may depart from the details shown without affecting the nature or spirit of my invention.

The operation may briefly be described as follows: Rotation being imparted to the rotor shaft S in the direction indicated by the curved arrow in Fig. 3, the grain or other material is introduced into the hopper 43 whence it gravitates past the valve '45 into the chute 37, the quantity of flow being con-. trolled by the slide valve 46 operating across the chute. The material thus reaches the outer ends of the beaters 12 carried around by the rotor and is caused to pass between the beaters and the ribbed faces of the grinding bars 13, the bars being mounted to present either the sharp edges to the rotating beaters (see Fig. 3) or, where the material to be crushed is friable the rounded faces of the ribs maybe thus presented to the beaters Fig. 13). The distance between the outer ends of the beaters 12 and the grinding faces of the bars 13 is determined by, and the parts respectively "adjusted through, the instrumentality of the rotatable rings 10 by which the position of the beaters is radially adjusted as already described, and by the-scroll rings 15 by which the positions of the grinding bars is adjusted along the spiral groove d. If for example we wish to contract the curve of grinding bars as shown in Fig. 3, we turn the scroll-rings contrary to the di-. rection of the hands of the clock (Fig. 15) which would have the effect of driving the bars into the inner or narrower portions of the spiral groove d. 'In thus turning the scroll rings, the upper t'erminal member of the series of grinding bars bearing as it does againstthe fixed wall of the chute 37 (Fig.

3) can not move with the scroll rings (being held against rotary movement by said wall) so that rotary movement of the bars is impossible. The bars are thus constrained to move radially inward by their traverse of the gradually diminishing curves of the grooves 03. Thus the entire series of grinding bars move toward the axis of the scroll rings with a rotation of the rings in the direction indicated, the studs 41 of the bar 38 of "the deflecting apron 39 being likewise caused to follow in grooves 03 toward the axis of the scroll rings, this action having the effect of lifting the free end of the apron and causing an upward oscillation thereof about the common axis of the screw. studs 42. The grinding bars 13 however which have now been contracted into a smaller compass (that is to say smaller in the sense that the radii of the spiral curve diminish as the curve approaches the center of the scroll ring) will necessarily crowd the apron 39 and cause the same to be pushed upward, it being understood that the nuts n are loosened sufliciently to allow for this movement of the apron, said movement being permitted by the slots u previously described.

. The, material ground between the rotor beaters 12 and the grinding bars 13 is discharged across the deflecting apron 39 into the uptake 49, the centrifugal action of the fan of the rotor drawing in atmospheric air through the opening 0 of the ring 9 thereof,

and through the opening 0 of the head 16 of the casing, and discharging the dust laden currents into the uptake 49 as above speci-' fied. It is of course to be understood that the air valve 78 is set to proper position to allow for the passage through the opening 0 of the proper amount of. air to produce the desired circulation through the rotor and thecasing thereof. From the uptake 49 the currents pass into the expansion or separating chamber 50 where the heavier particles or tailings are dropped, the same gravitating into the spout 57 whence they are either discharged past the valve 58, or are diverted by the valve into the return chute 59 which delivers the material back to the chute 37 leading from the hopper 43. The lighter particles from the separating chamber 50 are carried onward through the pipe 51 and are discharged from the mouth 51' thereof tangentially along the walls of the collector 52, said tangential projection of the currents producing a vortex or cyclone within the said collector 52, said vortex resulting in an axial zone of comparative quiet through which the heavier particles drop into the .spout 53 whence they may be discharged 1 past the gravity valve 54. The lightest particles and surplus air are returned from the collector 52 backto the rotor casing through the conduit 66, which may 1f desired receive accessions of fresh atmospheric air through the vent pipe 75 as already described. Should it be desired for any reason to return a portion of the heavier particles from the collector 52 back to the rotor casing with the returned air, the valve 68 may be lowered sufficiently to materially constrict the passageway ;0 (Fig. 1) which will have the effect of accelerating the velocity of the currents traversing the same, such accelerated currents picking up the desired heavier particles and returning them to the mill for 'regrinding. It will thus be seen that the character of. the final product of the mill may be regulated according to circumstances, it being possible at all times to return any portion or all of the initially ground product back to the mill for regrinding. The apparatus moreover is self-contained, the air entering the rotor through the opening 0 being in a large measure returned to the rotor by the conduit '66.

Having described by invention what I claim is:

1. In a mill of the character described, a rotor, radial beaters mounted thereon,

grinding bars disposed helically about the cylindrical path of the outer ends of the beaters, and rotatable members provided with spiral grooves or ways traversed by the terminals of the bars for radially adjusting the bars as a unit, toward and from said beaters.

2. In a mill of the character described, a rotatable scroll-ring provided with a spiral groove on one face thereof, grinding bars operating to traverse said groove with a rotation .of the ring, and means for preventing rotary displacement of the bars during the rotation of the ring.

3'. In a mill of the character described, a pair of scroll-rings spaced apart and rotatable in unison about a common axis, spiral grooves-formed on the inner opposed faces of the rings, grinding bars disposed between the rings and terminating in trunnions traversing the grooves upon rotation of the rings, whereby the bars may approach or recede from the axis aforesaid, depending on the direction of rotation of the rings.

4. In a mill of the character described, a

pair of scroll gear-rings spaced apart and" rotatable in unison about their common axis, spiral grooves formed on the inner opposed faces of the rings, grinding bars disposed between the rings and traversing the grooves thereof, a shaft provided with pinions en- 7 gaging the teeth of the scroll rings, and means for imparting rotation to said shaft. 5.- In a mill of the character described, grinding bars having each a plurality of adjacently disposed ribbed formations provided with curved faces intersected by 1mdercut faces on opposite sides of the bar, the formations being parallel to the longitudinal axis of the bar and-those on one eg side being reverse from those on the opposite side whereby when the bar is turned end for end either the curved face or the cutting edge of the undercut face is avail.-

able for grinding.

6. In a mill of the character described, a suitable casing, a rotor mounted therein comprising a shaft, a series of radial blades disposed about the shaft, rings terminating the blades, the opening of one of the rings serving as an air intake, a bell valve slidingly feathered to the shaft for controlling the intake opening aforesaid and means for actuating said valve.

. 7 In a mill of the character described, a rotor comprising a member provided with a series of radial blades terminating in annular heads, annular shoulders formed on the outer faces of the heads. controlling V rings rotatable about the shoulders and pro-- vided with arcuate-or curved slots beyond the shoulders opening through the peripheries of the rings, radial slots formed on the rotor heads, hinge rods jointly traversing the slots of the heads and rings, beaters pivotally secured to the rods between the heads of the rotor, a rotation of the rings constraining the rods to traverse the radial slots of the heads whereby radial adjustment of the heaters may be effected, and

means on the rods for clamping the parts against displacement when once adjusted.

8. In a mill of the character described, a pair of rotatable scroll-rings spaced apart and provided with spiral grooves on their opposing or adjacent faces, a rotor casing for housing the rings, a series of grinding bars mounted between the rings and traversing the spiral grooves thereof with a rotation of the rings, a deflector apron free to yield about a fixed am's of support, mounted within the rotor casing, the free ends of the sides of the apron being provided with studs operating in the grooves of the scroll-rings, the free end of the apron serving as a yielding bearing for the adjacent terminal member of the series of grinding bars mounted between'the rings, and a fixed abutment for engaging the terminal member at the oppo-.

site end of the .series of grinding bars, whereby upon rotation of the scroll-rings the grinding bars may be made to approach or recede from the common rotation axis of the rings, according to the direction in which the rings are turned.

9. In a millof the character described a longitudinally serrated reversible grinding bar having teeth on opposite sides thereof with gradually curved surfaces meeting the cutting edges of the teeth, said teeth being inclined in reversed order on opposite sides of the bar.

10. In a mill of the character described, a rotor casing, terminal annular heads for the. same each' provided with a cylindrical. 

